Executive summary
The case for accelerated global action targeting child labour and the lack of decent work
opportunities for youth is very clear. Some 168 million children remain trapped in child
labour while at the same time there are 75 million young persons aged 15 to 24 years who
are unemployed and many more who must settle for jobs that fail to offer a fair income,
security in the workplace, social protection or other basic decent work attributes.
This World Report focuses on the twin challenges of child labour elimination and
ensuring decent work for youth. This focus is driven by the obstacles that child labour and
and by the close connection between the two challenges. The Report makes the case that
The Report begins with a background discussion of standards, concepts and policy.
of youth and their eventual employment outcomes; and second, how youth employment
child labour and schooling earlier in the lifecycle. The Report then addresses the issue of
child labour among 15 to 17 years old, the overlapping group that is relevant to broader
efforts relating to both child labour and youth employment. The Report concludes with
a set of recommendations for aligning and improving the coherence of policies and
How child labour and early schooling leaving affect the transition
paths of youth and their eventual employment outcomes
included in the SWTS programme complete their labour market transition by the age of
15 years, i.e. as child labourers.1 The same source indicates that even more youth in these
countries leave school prior to this age, driven, inter alia, by poverty, social vulnerability,
2
How do the employment outcomes of former child labourers and others who begin the
transition to work at an early age differ from those of other young persons? Comparisons
of the employment and schooling outcomes of those that were already working by the age
of 15 years with those that began work after this age offer us some insight in this regard.